Tuesday, June 23, 2009

OFA Scarves

The Orphan Foundation of America has an annual donation opportunity. They send red scarves to the young adults who have moved out of foster and are now going for post secondary education. I've written about their good work before and it still amazes me how much these kids accomplish with little or no family support.

I have already completed two scraves for this year's project.

This rusty colored one was made because I wanted to try out some yarn from Kristen Roach's Green Prarie Fibers and I wanted to work on my rib knitting. I was worried that the wool would bother my hands. Instead, it was a real pleasure to work with and made up beautifully. The pattern is from One Skein Wonders and has a simple ruffled edge and a knit on - purl one rib. The wool did felt a little bit but the scarf remains soft and subtle. Although it is not red, the project rules do allow for other colors. The Girls sure like it!My second attempt at a scarf was prompted by a desire to try lace knitting coupled with a need to use up some left over yarn from this project. This pattern is so simple that it is easy to mess up. The whole thing, including the fringe came out to about 80", a great girly length. The pattern is a simple four plus two pattern... in other words, the width is biased on multiples of a four stitch pattern plus two more. In this case the scarf is 34 stitches wide ((8 x 4) + 2)). The stitch pattern for every row is - slip 1, purl 1, [knit 1, YO, knit two togther, purl 1] - finish the row out by repeats for the instructions in square brackets and start all over again. The fringe is about ten inches wide and I used up all my leftovers.If you have some yarn that would work for a scarf but you are at a loss as to why you would make another scraf, try doing one for this project. I cannot think of a better cause in this day and age.In case you are wondering, Alex was not in the chair for this photo shoot because he was driving me nuts with his newest red ball. Thanks Paul!